Children better with home technology by age 10, parents believe

Digital editor

Parents believe their children become more confident than them at operating home entertainment technology by the age of 10, a poll suggests.

Two thirds of parents (65%) have asked their children for help with technology and more than half of children (53%) find their parents' questions annoying, the survey for Virgin Media found.

It found that on average, children are more confident than their parents at a range of different home entertainment technologies by the time they turn 10.

Children become more confident at pausing a television programme in one room and picking it up in another and using video app Boomerang at the age of nine. They were more confident watching a subscription-based programme and accessing catch-up services by the age of 10.

Almost two thirds of parents (63%) suggested that the reason children are more confident with technology is because they have grown up with it.

However, just 41% of children agree, while 32% believe they simply learn faster than their parents.

Kerris Bright, chief marketing officer at Virgin Media, said: "Parents are finding that their children have become better at navigating technology than they are. We have even used these young masters of entertainment in our stores to help grown-ups to understand home technology.

"Children are so tech-savvy because they've been brought up alongside an array of gadgets that they use in all aspects of everyday life, for example, accessing on-demand kids' entertainment on the TV, using smartphone apps for learning and communicating with friends using WhatsApp and Snapchat.

"So parents who find themselves confused by tech may well get the best advice by asking their own kids, although they may annoy them in the process."

:: Censuswide surveyed 1,004 parents and 1,004 children online from November 16 to 21.